


the rain falls for you

by yukjaem



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, best friends to boyfriends, there's a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 03:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14662275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukjaem/pseuds/yukjaem
Summary: jeno comes knocking on his door, sopping wet from the rain and holding a cat in his arms.





	the rain falls for you

**Author's Note:**

> I have a fever and a report due tomorrow, so what do I do? Write nomin. Yay.

Jaemin’s not sure why he thought it was a good idea to answer the door at midnight, especially since it's fucking pouring and who knows what lunatic is standing outside. Instead, clad in his favourite Spiderman pyjamas, he comes face to face with his best friend, Lee Jeno. Jeno’s sopping wet, black hair sticking to his scalp, and his eyes are red, watery with tears. He sniffs pathetically and wraps his coat around his torso.

“Hey,” he says, after Jaemin blinks, stupefied.

Jaemin takes a step forward. “Holy shit, Jeno. What happened to you? Are you okay?”

Then he hears the tiniest “meow,” and his gaze drops to a conspicuous lump on Jeno’s stomach. With an apologetic grin, Jeno slowly unwraps his coat to reveal a bundle of orange fur. Wary blue eyes peer back at Jaemin.

“Of fucking course.” Jaemin throws his hands up, but he steps aside to let Jeno in. He glares pointedly at the trail of water Jeno leaves behind. His mom’s going to kill him if she sees this. “You show up in the middle of the night, looking like you’re going through an emotional breakdown, but no, it’s a freaking cat. You’re _allergic_ to cats, Jeno.”

“Shhh,” Jeno hushes him. “You’re gonna wake your parents up.”

“Then why are you here with a _cat_.”

“I couldn’t just leave the kitty behind. He was abandoned at the side of the road.” Jeno genuinely looks offended. “I mean, look at him! What kind of heartless soul would I be if I just left him?”

On cue, the cat mewls, a sad sound of a whimper, and Jaemin feels his heart waver. He takes a deep breath. “Well, sure. Keep the damn cat if you want, but why show up at my house? You literally live right next door.”

“I already have three cats in my house. And like you said, I’m allergic, so my mom would never let me keep another one. Please, Jaemin, you're my best friend.”

He sneezes afterwards, and Jaemin sighs, giving in. He helps Jeno slip out of his coat and chucks it over a hook by the entranceway. When he turns back around, Jeno’s cuddling with the cat and whispering comforting words like, “Here, kitty,” and, “I got you.” Jaemin's heart melts into a gross puddle of goop and fuzzy feelings. He shakes it off.

“Go take a warm shower before you catch a cold, you dumbass,” he grumbles. “I’ll take care of the cat.”

 

Jaemin tries not to think about Jeno in the shower. Truly, he tries, because Jeno is his best friend and best friends don’t think about each other’s naked bodies. Shit. Jaemin erases the image from his brain the second he thinks of it. Instead, he turns his attention to the cat - a ginger tabby according to Jeno.

“So, Jeno really likes you. Well, that's a given since you're a cat and Jeno loves cats,” he sneers. “And you’re cute too, I guess.”

The tabby lies at the foot of his bed, slitted pupils narrowed. Jaemin gulps. If looks could kill, he’d be dead right now. For such a small creature, the kitten has an enormous presence. He reaches out to pet his head, but the kitten jumps back and hisses, then hides underneath his pillows, blue eyes staring at him distrustingly.

“I see you two are getting along?” Jeno teases, coming out of the bathroom. Droplets of water glide down the strands of his hair and onto his collarbones. He’s wearing Jaemin’s Stranger Things shirt and a pair of his old sweatpants. He and Jaemin are around the same height, but his muscles are more toned, more defined, and Jaemin can see the outline of his abs and the shape of his biceps.

He visibly swallows and looks away. “Not really.”

Jeno frowns. “Well, you should. Cute things should stick together.”

“Are you calling me cute, Lee Jeno?” Jaemin says, playfully wiggling his eyebrows. He can deal with this kind of banter with ease.

“Yeah. You’re cute,” is Jeno’s blunt response. A smirk edges at the corner of his lips.

Jaemin flushes, his mind scrambling, but before he can retaliate, Jeno's moved on, clicking his tongue at the kitten. "Here, Nana," he murmurs.

"Nana?"

"Yeah, I decided to name the kitty Nana. He's adorable just like you, Nana."

Jaemin feels a headache brewing behind his temple. "You gotta be shitting me. That's gonna be so confusing, Jeno."

"He can be Nana Jr if that helps?"

"No, that's not gonna work." Jaemin pinches the bridge of his nose. Adding Jr after his name sounds like a bad idea, although he’s not telling Jeno the wildly inappropriate reason behind it. His best friend - secret crush - is an idiot.

Jeno blatantly ignores him in favour of gaining the kitty's (Jaemin's pride and logic refuses to call him Nana Jr) attention. He's already starting to sniffle again, his allergies working its way through him, but he doesn't seem bothered at all.

“Can we not name him Nana Jr, please?” Jaemin tries.

This makes Jeno pause. He hums, “How about Minnie, like Jaeminnie, but not?”

“Does it have to be based on my name?”

“Uh, yeah. His fur is even orange, kinda like your hair.”

"Fine. Minnie is it then,” Jaemin grumbles. He gives Jeno an exasperated look. “And my hair is light brown, not orange. Get it right."

And because Jeno knows him well - they've been best friends since childhood - his lips quirk into a smile, as if to say 'sure, it is’. Jaemin dives back under his blankets with a huff, leaving a wide berth around the kitten. He lets his eyes flutter shut and listens as Jeno bustles about, grabbing the extra sleeping bag from his closet and laying it down on the carpet. They used to - still do - have sleepovers at each other's places all the time, so Jeno knows the drill.

"Good night, Nana and Minnie," he says, after the lights are off, voice soft and ridden with fatigue. The cat emits a tiny squeak. There's a beat of silence.

"G'night, Jeno."

He waits for Jeno to fall asleep, listening to his soft snores, the silent buzz from the bathroom lights, the kitten mewling once in a while. Jeno’s _“You’re cute”_ echoes in his mind, over and over until he flips to his side with a sigh, conflicted. He admits it; he's in love with his best friend - has been for a while now. But he knows he can never confess, not because Jeno will hate him, but because no matter how hard they'll try to act normal, their friendship will never be the same. Fuck his feelings. Fuck looking cute. He can’t risk losing Jeno.

 

Jaemin’s mom finds them in the morning, an unimpressed look on her face. Jaemin’s sitting on the black chair by the desk, eyeing Jeno act all domestic and shit with the tabby. His stomach churns in hunger (they haven’t eaten breakfast yet) and _jealousy._ He’s jealous of a _cat_. What has his life come to?

“Really, Jaemin?” she sighs, a hand on her hips. “A cat?”

“Don’t blame me, blame Jeno!” Jaemin protests. He doesn’t want the cat. Minnie hates him, he can tell by the way his eyes squint at him over Jeno’s shoulders, and he’d be damned if he takes all the blame.

Jeno’s on his bed with a tissue for his nose in one hand, his other hand resting in between Minnie’s ears. He jumps up when he sees Jaemin’s mom, and then he smiles, eyes scrunching into crescents, dimples showing. His mom’s expression immediately softens; it seems that liking Jeno runs in the family. Jeno, with his sweet words, eventually convinces her to let Jaemin keep Minnie as long as he takes responsibility for him. Jeno promises to help him. (“The question is, whether or not I _want_ Minnie,” Jaemin says dryly. Jeno gives him the puppy eyes, and he gives in, just like that.)

 

To say that Minnie dislikes Jaemin is an understatement. He hates Jaemin with a burning passion, and the feeling is mutual.

“You live under _my_ roof, eat _my_ food, sleep on _my_ bed and play with the toys I bought with _my_ money. Can’t you at least pretend to like me when Jeno’s around?” Jaemin wails one day, finger angrily pointed at Minnie.

He’s bleeding. Minnie had bitten his finger. Jaemin hisses in a breath and mutters a small, “Ow.”

Minnie has the audacity to look smug, and flicks his tail, curling it around his paws. Jaemin squints down at him. “You little fu-”

“Hey, you okay?” Jeno cuts him off. He’s out of the chair and cradles Jaemin’s hand in his palms, eyes widened in concern. The back of his hand feels hot through Jaemin’s jeans, pressed against his thigh.

Jaemin pauses, then blinks. “I’m fine. It stings a bit, that’s all,” he admits.

Because Jeno tends to act like an overprotective mother hen, he holds Jaemin by the waist and lifts him up. Then, oblivious to Jaemin's meek sounds of protest, he steers him into the bathroom, sits him on the toilet, and goes to find the first aid kit in the cabinets. Minnie follows close behind, meowing loudly for attention. Jeno sends the tabby a smile, but otherwise, focuses on Jaemin, and Jaemin can't help but feel victorious.

He still can't believe he feels victorious over a fucking cat.

It doesn't take long for Jeno to clean the bite and slap a band-aid on his finger. "There you go! That should do the job." He sits back on his heels and beams proudly. Jaemin wonders if that smile can blind someone - specifically someone named Na Jaemin.

"Aren't you gonna kiss it better?" he blurts out.

When they were little, he and Jeno used to get cuts and bruises all the time, scrapes from the skateboard park, scratches from climbing a peculiarly tall tree. Jaemin remembers one time he had dared Jeno to hop a fence, and Jeno’s pants had gotten caught on the metal wires, causing him to fall. He wasn't badly injured, but tears had started to well up in the corner of his eyes anyway. Panicked, Jaemin had kissed it better, like his mother used to do, and, like magic, Jeno had stopped blubbering immediately.

It was a tradition for them, to kiss their injuries better. It wasn't a big deal when they were kids, and it shouldn't be a big deal now.

So why does Jeno look like a deer caught in headlights?

“Jeno?” Jaemin prods. His voice wavers. “You okay?”

Jeno shakes his head, eyes focusing again. “Hm? Yeah. Sorry, got distracted for a sec.” Before Jaemin has the time to take it back, Jeno presses his lips against the tip of his finger. He pulls back in a second and fixes Jaemin a small smile.

“Feel better?” he asks.

Jaemon feels his cheeks redden, which he ignores and manages to stutter: “All good, thanks.”

Minnie meows again, louder than last time.

“You’re such a big baby,” Jeno says fondly. He goes to pick Minnie up before Jaemin has the time to register his sentence. He remains seated, dumbfounded. Did Jeno mean to call him a baby, or was he talking to Minnie?

“Ah, fuck this,” he sneers at himself. _Remember: Jeno and I are best friends. Stop thinking so much._

And he does just that.

 

It’s kind of hard to forget he has a giant crush on his best friend when said best friend doesn’t understand the definition of personal space. Not that he’s complaining, really. They’re both into cuddling. He enjoys their hugs, limbs splayed over one another, quick pecks on cheeks (deemed normal after the ‘kiss-it-better' incident), but when Donghyuck of all people smirks knowingly at him, Jaemin knows they might be taking the whole ‘platonic touching between best friends’ thing too far.

Well, screw Donghyuck. He and Jeno are just best friends, and nothing’s going to change that. Jaemin pretends not to notice his stomach twist at the thought of Jeno finding someone else.

 

Weeks later, Minnie goes missing. It's a sunny morning, although the breeze is slightly chilly. The first thing that comes to Jaemin's mind when he wakes next to an empty crease on his bed is _good riddance_.

It’s not until late afternoon that Jaemin realises he hasn’t seen Minnie all day, and that Minnie is a kitten and technically shouldn't be allowed to wander outside yet. Jaemin lowkey freaks out because Jeno's going to kill him, and not because he's grown attached to the damn cat. He's not worried about Minnie. Not at all.

Clearly, Jeno doesn’t feel the same way. When Jaemin tells Jeno not to freak out and that Minnie may have chosen to live in the wild as a warrior cat, what does he decide to do? He freaks out. He paces the living room, worrying his bottom lip.

“Calm down, Jeno. It hasn’t been that long. We’ll find him,” Jaemin reasons. He places a hand on Jeno’s arm, and Jeno stops midstep.

“You’re right, let’s go look for him, Nana.” He grabs Jaemin's hands, interlocks their fingers, then presses them against his chest. Jaemin feels the hard muscle beneath his shirt, the steady thrum of his heartbeat. “I know you’re worried too. It’s okay. I promise we’ll find him.”

Jaemin, startled, meets Jeno's gaze and finds himself at loss of words. He barely manages a nod in return before Jeno lets go of his hand and beckons him out.

“Come on.”

Dark and grey clouds have started to gather in the sky, so Jaemin throws on his lucky orange hoodie, and tosses Jeno his coat (abandoned in Jaemin’s room since that first night with Minnie). His best friend ( _yes, we're best friends,_ Jaemin reminds himself), slips on his coat, uttering a “thanks” as they head out.

 

Right away, they separate ways; it'll be quicker that way, and it looks like it's going to rain at any moment. Jaemin goes left, near their high school and a few convenience stores, while Jeno goes right, where there's a small dog park. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which direction Minnie most likely would have gone.

Jaemin hears the commotion before he sees it. Young boys, probably first years in high school, are throwing pebbles at Minnie, who’s hiding behind a bench and hissing in fright. Overhead, the clouds rumble and everything darkens, the air growing cold. Jaemin picks up his pace when he sees them, starts to jog, then sprints. There are three of them, all spindly arms and knobby knees, face covered with splotches of acne. There’s a slight pubescent crack in their voices as they shout profanities and taunt the cat. Preteens.

"Hey," Jaemin calls out. He spreads his arms open and stands before Minnie. "Stop it!"

A kid jeers, and a sharp-edged pebble skids past Jaemin's cheek. It stings a bit. He wipes his cheek, and a streak of red stains the back of his hand. Behind him, Minnie's hisses heighten in pitch.

"Oh, now you've pissed me off," Jaemin snarls. He wants to throw a punch (regardless of the kid's young age and his own nagging conscious), but Minnie beats him to it and jumps out of his hiding spot, swiping a claw at one of the kid's leg. It's that easy; one measly scratch and they run away screaming bloody murder. Jaemin didn't even move an inch.

“Fuck yeah, Minnie. What a boss,” he says, reaching out to lift the kitten in his arms.

Minnie flattens his ears and backs away. Right. After the face-off with the preteens, Jaemin had forgotten that they weren't on good terms. He crouches down and sticks his hand out, fingers closed in a loose fist. Minnie takes one sniff before taking two steps back again.

“Look, Minnie,” he starts, softly. “I know you don't like me very much, if at all. But Jeno and I were really worried about you. And we’re all cute, and cute things should stick together. So please come back.”

Minnie takes a small step forward, hesitating. It begins to drizzle.

“I am talking to a cat,” he mutters to himself, then grins, sheepish, when Minnie glares at him. He feels like he's going crazy. “Okay, how about I spot you some olives. Don't you love olives?”

Apparently, there’s a chemical in olives similar to the one found in catnip, and Jeno had found Jaemin in hysterics when he first saw Minnie sprawled on the carpet in bliss after he'd stolen one.

Minnie doesn't hesitate to jump into his arms.

On cue, it starts to rain. Not a light drizzle, but a fucking downpour. Jaemin can only hear the sheets of rain pounding on the concrete, and the soft mewls coming from his arms. Fuck. He shields Minnie as much as he can from the rain - which isn't much.

“Jaemin! Minnie!” Jeno says, lips behind Jaemin's ear, warm breaths on his neck. Jaemin shudders. Strong arms wrap around his shoulders, draping a jacket over his head. “I got you.”

Jaemin glances up. A drop of rain glimmers on top of Jeno’s eyelashes and slides down, past the mole on his cheek. Jaemin quells the urge to kiss it. What is this? A shoujo anime?

“On the count of three, let's sprint home, okay?” Jeno says.

“Okay.”

With Jeno's arms wrapped around his shoulders, Minnie in his arms, and Jeno's coat shielding them from the constant downpour, they reach home, breathless from the adrenaline, cheeks glowing. When Jaemin’s mom catches them in the kitchen, sneaking olives in their pockets and bursting into random fits of laughter, she can’t bring herself to scold them for running out. “But at least take a shower or dry yourselves,” she toots and pushes them upstairs.

 

Jaemin's towelling his hair dry when Jeno grabs his chin, turning his head to the side so that he can see the cut on his right cheek.

“What happened?” he asks, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Jaemin's heart stutters to a stop. He gently brushes off Jeno's hand and takes a step back. “Nothing big. There were a couple of tweens throwing rocks at Minnie, and one of them accidentally hit my face.”

Jeno’s gaze remains concerned, and he follows Jaemin, taking steps forward, until Jaemin finds his back pressed against the wall with nowhere else left to go. For once, he wishes Minnie could distract them, but the cat's too busy playing with olives.

“Jeno?”

Jeno lets out a heavy sigh. He drops his head into the crook of Jaemin's neck. Confused, Jaemin's instinctively reaches up and cards his fingers through Jeno's hair.

“Sorry I wasn't there to protect you and Minnie,” he finally mumbles.

“What are you talking about? They were just a bunch of skinny tweens looking for trouble. No biggie. And at least Minnie didn't get hurt, thank god,” Jaemin says loudly. He hopes Jeno doesn't notice his heart beating at miles per second.

“Still. Should have been there. You got hurt.” He can hear the pout in Jeno's voice.

“Oh, stop pouting, you idiot. I’m fine, but if you really want, you can make it up to me another time,” Jaemin says and shoves Jeno off.

Jeno brightens up like a kid opening presents on Christmas day, saying, “I promise to make it up to you!” and Jaemin wonders how he fell in love with someone so kind yet so oblivious at the same time.

 

They watch rom-coms in Jaemin's room for the rest of the night. Maybe the olives are still in effect, but Minnie seems to have accepted Jaemin and plops himself on his lap, purring as Jaemin pets him indulgently.

Jeno's on his other side, and Jaemin unconsciously curls into him, back pressed against his chest.

And because they're exhausted and too lazy to move, they fall asleep, just like that. (Although, Jeno has to clear his throat or stifle a sneeze once in a while.)

 

Jaemin wakes up, back suddenly cold, listening to Jeno confess his feelings of undying love to the _cat_.

“Minnie, I'm screwed. I think I'm in love with him - every aspect of him. The way his eyes crinkle when he smiles, the flutter of his eyelashes, his laughter, his _voice_. And he has such a sweet personality, kind of awkward at first but hilarious when you get to know him.”

Jaemin doesn't dare open his eyes. He inhales shakily, though, because this is the moment. The moment Jeno unknowingly breaks his heart and tells the cat (before him, his _best friend_!) all about this mysterious boy he claims to love so much.

He continues, “And he's so hard-working and resilient. I’m worried because he doesn't show anyone that he's hurting. Except for me, I hope. Or maybe I can just read him better.”

Really, Jaemin wonders, who is Jeno talking about? The new foreign exchange student, Renjun? He's cute and hard-working, that's for sure. Jaemin hates how his gut twists and churns; how his heart clenches, rendering it hard for him to breathe.

“God, I'm in love with how perfectly our fingers slot together, the pink in his lips, his blushing cheeks. He's so pretty, I want to cry. And it hurts, it hurts knowing he'll never see me as more than just a friend.” Jeno's voice cracks, and Jaemin knows he should stop him.

He twitches, about to get up, when Jeno finally breathes out,

“It hurts, because I'm in love with my best friend, Na Jaemin.”

Oh.

Okay.

Jaemin freezes, and then Minnie meows, uninterested in any of their teenage woes.

They're both such _oblivious_ idiots.

“Fuck this,” he exclaims, sitting up.

Jeno startles. “How much did you hear?”

“First, kiss my cut better.” Jaemin points to the cut on his cheek, lips stretched in a thin line, determined.

Jeno looks bewildered. “What, now? Don't you wanna talk about what I said fi-”

“I said, kiss it better first, then we can talk. Remember when you said you'd make it up to me? This is it, Jeno.”

Minnie swats at Jeno's arm as if to push him forward. Reluctantly, Jeno stands from his spot on the carpet. As he approaches, the sunlight spills through the blinds and hit all the right angles on his cheekbones and jawline. Jaemin stares at him openly.

“What’s going on?” Jeno says slowly. He's close enough that Jaemin can see the golden speckles lighting the brown in his eyes.

“Just hurry up and kiss it better, Jeno.”

So, Jeno bends down and kisses his cheek, and Jaemin subtly tilts his head to the side. Their lips brush, linger for a moment, then Jeno pulls back, shock evident in his eyes.

“Are you messing with me, Jaemin?” he says angrily, stumbling out of reach.

“No, you oblivious stupid head,” Jaemin lets out a noise of frustration. He shimmies out of his blankets and grabs Jeno by the collar. “I'm also in love with you. I just never said anything 'cause I thought you saw me as your best friend, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship.”

“Oh,” Jeno says faintly, after a beat of silence.

“Yes, 'oh.’ We were both pining on each other like fucking idiots.”

“You’re using the word 'stupid’ and 'idiot’ a lot today. You describing yourself, Nana?”

“ _Jeno._ ”

Jeno smiles, eyes scrunching into crescents. He cups his hands on either side of Jaemin's head and presses his forehead against his. Their breaths mingle together. Maybe their lips meet again, a bit longer than last time.

“I guess I can call you my boyfriend now?” Jeno says, breathless.

That's when Jaemin sees the mole on Jeno's cheek, the one he's always wanted to kiss. So, he does. “Yeah, duh,” he replies later.

They fall back onto the bed, facing each other, both unwilling to get up and ruin the moment.

Minnie meows plaintively, shoving an obtrusive paw in between them and smacking Jaemin's face while he's at it. The tabby looks annoyed, but also hella smug as if everything went according to plan.

Jeno sneezes lightly.

Jaemin finds himself laughing, and when Jeno sends him a puzzled look, he explains, “Of fucking course, you and the cat come in a package deal.”

He doesn't mind, though. He and his boyfriend, along with their cat, can take on the world any day.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! As always, comments are much appreciated ♡


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